


I'll Cover You

by KatiKitten



Series: We Used To Be Friends [5]
Category: Glee
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-07
Updated: 2012-05-07
Packaged: 2017-11-05 00:38:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/399966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatiKitten/pseuds/KatiKitten
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Someone has to eat crow to get the seven former members of Glee back. Might as well be Kurt. Takes place the same afternoon as "Never Mind the Strangers".</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll Cover You

Kurt Hummel took a deep breath, and knocked on Rachel's door. He and Miss Diva Berry had a long history of auditioning for the same community theater plays, even if they weren't up for the same roles, and usually then going out for food afterwards. Sometimes, one of the Mr. Berry's would take them home after auditions, sometimes it was Burt Hummel. A few times, Burt called Rachel's dads beforehand to find out if they could take Kurt to and from the auditions.

Still, while they had known each other for years and enjoyed the meals and such, Rachel and Kurt had never been what one could accurately call "friends". The truth was, Rachel was more than a little unbearable. Her personality was intense and over the top and she was a control freak of the highest calibre without being full blown OCD. But there was more to the truth than just that, and the rest of the truth was that Rachel really was far and beyond the most talented person they had.

And she was _right_ , damn it. It really _wasn't_ fair for Rachel to be treated the way she was. Rachel _was_ the most talented person in the club, though Kurt liked to think that he was a second.

But he was able to admit that he was a distant second.

Rachel worked the hardest, she was the most talented, and yeah, sometimes it felt like the Rachel Berry Club, but she got a lot of solos taken away from her, and that wasn't right, either. You don't punish people just for being legitimately better.

Rachel really had raised a valid point. Mercedes had told everyone else in Glee Club about Puck being the baby daddy, except for the only person that had a right to know, and the person most likely to tell that one person with the right to know. And yeah, Rachel did exactly what they expected her to do and told Finn. But they should have told Finn in the first place. It shouldn't have come down to Rachel to tell him.

So, yeah. Someone had to admit that Rachel was right, and beg her and the others to come back. Might as well be Kurt, since no one else was stepping up to the plate to do it, especially not Mr. Schuester.

Rachel yanked the door open, laughing. Her smile died slowly as she looked at Kurt, before she replaced it, bright with a brittle edge. "Kurt. Come on in? We have pizza, I am certain that there is enough for you. We also have multiple flavours of soda pop for you to choose from."

Kurt's eyes widened slightly. Of the receptions he'd run through in his head, this wasn't one that he'd expected. Or even imagined in the first place, really. "Rachel, I'm sorry." He blurted the words out.

Rachel's smile froze. "What exactly are you apologizing for?"

"You're right. We've been treating you like crap. It's not fair." Kurt held Rachel's eyes with his. " _I_ have been treating you like crap. I don't like it when other people do it to me. I shouldn't do it to you. The truth is, you're my biggest competition. We have an almost identical range. I can get a little lower, and you can get a little higher." Kurt hesitated, then corrected himself. "That's not entirely true. For you to be my competition, there has to be the chance that I'll actually win sometimes. _I_ am _your_ biggest competition. As long as we're trying for the same songs, you're always going to deserve the better part. That's just the way it is, and I need to get used to it. Because you're right. It's not fair for you to be punished just because you _are_ better and work harder."

Rachel stepped to the side. "Really. Come on in. Some of the others are here. I am sure they would love to have you join us. And if they take issue to you being here, well... They are my guests here, too. Either people will be nice, or they will leave. That is the rule in the Berry household."

Kurt managed a small smile at Rachel, and brushed inside quietly. "We need you, Rachel. Not just because we need people in general. We need you because you're _good_. I'm apologizing because it's the right thing to do, but I'm also asking you to come back because _that's_ the right thing to do, too."

"Contrary to popular belief, not everything I do is about the drama." Rachel had a tendency to be over-dramatic. She used her hands to speak and her voice would get shrill. Rachel was an attention grabber. Right then, though, Rachel wasn't being dramatic. She was speaking quietly and simple, her shoulders slumped, and that just told Kurt how serious she was. The fact that she wasn't making a big deal out of leaving and was just stating simple facts meant that Rachel meant everything she said. "I did not leave simply to get attention. I am _tired_ , Kurt. I am tired of trying desperately for all of you to like me, and failing miserably. I know that all of you think that I am oblivious to how much you really do not like me. But I actually am not. I see your looks. I hear your comments. It hurts. I can not do it anymore, Kurt. I just _can't_."

If you'd told Kurt even five hours before that he'd be hugging Rachel Berry, he would have given you very specific instructions of what you could do and what you could jump off of and where you could go to do it. And yet, Kurt was hugging Rachel, not just voluntarily but he was the one that _instigated_ the hug. "Rachel. You are _resplendent_. You and me, we're going to get out of this cow town. We're going to go to New York, and we're going to make it on Broadway, and we're _both_ going to be the people that everyone here says 'I went to school with them!' about. And if anyone makes you feel inferior, even if it's us -- _especially_ if it's us -- you just hold your head high and come get me. If _I'm_ the one that is doing it, you have my permission to slap me in true diva fashion. You are special. I'd say that you're going to make something of yourself, but, Rachel, you already _are_ something."

Rachel flashed him a smile. Quite possibly the first _real_ smile she'd given him since starting school at McKinley their freshman year. "Come have some pizza. I will talk to Mr. Schuester at school tomorrow. I make no promises about coming back, but I will at least talk to him about my problems with the way things are currently being handled."

Kurt hugged her closer with the arm still around her shoulders. "I'll be right there with you, telling him that you're right. From now on, I got your back, Ms. Rachel Berry."


End file.
